8. French Lower Secondary School - Collège

1. 8.1. Structure
   8.2. Enrolment
   8.3. Curriculum
   8.4. Assessment
   8.5. Certification

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8.3. School Curriculum of a French Collège

The following tables set out the subjects taught in each year of collège, together with the minimum number of teaching hours for each subject.


Tables: Collège Curriculum

Sixième (11-12)
Subject	Hours
French	5h
Maths	4h
Modern Lang	4h
History/Geog/Civics	3h
Science/Technology	3h
Arts/Music	2h
Physical Recreation	4h

Cinquième (12-13)
Subject	Hours
French	4h
Maths	3.5h
Modern Lang	3h
History/Geog/Civics	3h
Sciences	4.5h
Arts/Music	2h
Physical Recreation	3h

Quatrième (13-14)
Subject	Hours
French	4h
Maths	3.5h
Modern Lang 1	3h
Modern Lang 2	3h
History/Geog/Civics	3h
Sciences	4.5h
Arts/Music	2h
Physical Recreation	3h

Troisiéme (14-15)
Subject	Hours
French	4.5h
Maths	4h
Modern Lang 1	3h
Modern Lang 2	3h
History/Geog/Civics	3.5h
Science/Technology	3h
Physics/Chemistry	2h
Arts/Music	2h
Physical Recreation	3h
Work/Life (Optional)	3h

One of the most recent changes introduced by the government has been an option for schools to introduce pupils to the discovery of world of work called the (découverte professionnelle) in their final year, for up to three hours a week.

In the more vocationally orientated schools there is a similar six hour option, based around a work or training based project that is undertaken outside of the schools gates in a vocational lycée, industry, commerce or agriculture.

This whole programme of discovering work is causing a lot of grief for many schools in the financing and organisation of the programmes so has yet to be universally developed.

There is also a specific requirement for students to obtain a certificate in information technology by taking the brevet informatique et internet as part of the final certification process at collège.

Students are also required to be taught an understanding of common risks they may encounter in life, accident prevention and emergency treatment in the event of an accident. The pupil may be awarded a certificate in emergency first aid - l'attestation de formation aux premiers secours (AFPS). The topic is taught within the main curriculum.

There is also the ASSR (road safety certificate) and this is obligatory if a child wants to drive a moped at 14 or thereafter take a driving test

A further recent change has been the introduction of an obligatory second foreign language, which must be taken in the final two years.

Some (but not much!) local variation is allowed on these programmes, so you should only use the information as a general guide.

In particular, there are some schools that specialise in say music, sport or foreign languages, where there are additional hours in addition to basic curriculum.

There are also optional subjects generally available to pupils in their final year, taken in addition to the basic curriculum.

8.3.1. Personalised Tuition

Although the curriculum is very prescribed, schools are also required to increasingly adapt classes to the individual needs of the children, by offering specialist subjects such as music or languages, and catering for those with particular difficulties.

Support for those with difficulties (both physical and intellectual) was further improved during 2005 when the government introduced a range of important reforms to grant greater equality of opportunity to all pupils.

The main initiative is called Programmes personnalisés de réussite éducative (PPRE) under which those in difficulty will be given more personalized and intensive education.

This is an ambitious goal and it is already clear that cash strapped schools are having difficulty in realising it.

These proposals included the requirement for schools to make specific provision for assistance to pupils whose first language is not French.

The proposals also require that schools should make specific provision for those showing exceptional ability.

These proposals are part of a strong government drive to try and give greater individual attention to pupils, although it is unclear how this will be achieved with continuing pressure on the curriculum and only limited new resources being made available.

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